FFS, Government making loads of cuts but now they are giving extra funding to...

[CrazyPlateLady]

the most deprived familes so their children can have 15 hours of free nursery from the age of 2 and extra help all the way to university.

AIBU to think that this is really unfair?

We don't earn good wages, but there is no way we will come near the poorest families. Why should my children have to wait an extra year to get nursery? If you aren't working I don't see why 2 year olds need 15 hours a week of nursery anyway. I'm happy to have DS at home with me now but I can see that next year he will need a bit more and nursery will be good for him.

There are going to be sooo many families that 'lose out' because we are in the middle somewhere (and by that I mean DH's wages of an amazing £16500.00 and my In Cap benefit).

What a waste of money when we all have to tighten our belts!

OP, suggest you read the Marmot Review. Don't know about you, but I find it profoundly shocking that bright children from poor families are held back while thick children from better families overtake them. Living in poverty makes you fail. However bright you are.

Even if you are the sort of person who chooses to blame poor people for being poor, surely you can't possibly think innocent children should be damaged because you disapprove of their parents?

This policy is just one tiny attempt to help those children out of the trap they find themselves in. God knows if it will actually help. But anything that might has to be worth a try.

It's not just these children who lose out, it's all of us. Because we don't get to benefit from their insight and their skills. Some of the most important scientific breakthroughs in human history, for instance, have been made by people whose parents couldn't afford prep school.

And btw, it's not about poor people = bad parents. Grinding poverty means you spend all your energy on the daily struggle to survive. You don't have the resources left over to take your child to see the Bolshoi after school.

Lusi - sorry - went to bed . I don't know what the answer is but referring way back down the page - offering nursery places to the type of parents mentioned on this thread, for example those with problems with substance abuse/alcohol/depression doesn't necessarily work. They don't take the places, they don't take the children along, don't take advantage of what's on offer. This way the poor get some help which is good but if they want to improve poor parenting then it misses the mark.

I would imagine it is an expansion of the policy, Riven?

Oh, FG bloody S at this OP.

Leaving aside the Tories' moralising at the poor, the main policy issue is twofold:

1. As edam said, education is the key to social mobility and it starts early,

1. 15 hours of nursery goes some way to providing entry to work for parents, particularly single mothers. Work is the key to enabling children out of poverty, whatever the 'barefoot and pregnant' brigade would have us believe. In situations where there just isn't a partner/husband to support a family, women (mothers) have to support themselves, and many of them want to. And - surprise, surprise - 15 hours is about the amount of work that can be done without losing other important supportive benefits/tax credits etc.

i'd maybe entitled,but i wouldnt want it!! my 2 year old does just fine at home with me....we have FUN,i love spending time with him.

nursery is not happening here

again,poor doesnt mean children need to' get out of the conditions they are living in'!!!!!!!!!!!

the extra help/ support in school and nursery is from age 2 to uni age. its extra education.....maybe because its already lacking in their area

it said nothing on the news last night about referrals by social workers!

it was presented as something new the government are bringing in. i asked if someone had a link..

but the item on the news wasnt about the 2 years olds exclusively,like those are!

this was more about extending from 2...upwards...through school to university

why would something already in place from a good while ago,suddenly become newsworthy?

from what I heard on the bbc today, is that this won't be new money, but money taken from the existing budget.

tbh it doesn't really say where the money comes from

sounds like a sweetener before next weeks bigger cuts!!

free school meals children is how they are going to organise it

thats us then. spent how? well my 2 year old will NOT be going to any nursey for a start!!

after school clubs....they already do those thankyou very much! and they already get extra support in school which we are happy with ,where needed

university help for brighter kids.....well DD is already in 6th form,already getting ema and resigned to a uni debt IF there are ENOUGH places!!

well thats what i'm thinking,if all children are already entitled...

doesnt this sound like a bit of a waste?£2,500 for each child claiming free school meals.

actually,being on benefits as we are,i get sick to death of the benefit bashing statements made on mumsnet....this is just one more stick to bash with really....but i cant help but wonder what else will be slashed next week. and also,just kind of keeps the poor poor ime......if i know my 12 year old will get uni assistance,no point in getting off the benefits is there?? and thats how some people think!!

all this highlighting of unfairness,how benefit claimants are so much better off. its true!!

I can't answer everyone on here as there are sooo many replies now.

I don't think that poor = bad parenting btw. My point (probably very poorly put across, I admit) is that feckless parents are still going to be feckless parents no matter how much nursery the children are entitled to.

Ok, I agree, these poor children need something to escape a shitty home life and there needs to be someone to teach them basics that the parents should be teaching but aren't. At the end of the day though they are still going to go home to shit parents, who don't give a fuck and nothing will change for them.

I have been in the situation of deprived child. The first 4 years of my life were spent in poverty. My 'mother' didn't give a toss about me. She hated me (freely admitted that to SS, yet they left me with her), I was fed on dry bread and water and had to steal food at night when 'mother' and her friend was asleep. They would find out and lock me in the cupboard, flush my head down the toilet etc. I would have to wash my own nightclothes in the middle of the night as I used to wet the bed as I was so scared. Many other things too.

15 hours of nursery a week would not have changed things for me and many other children is these situations. My home life still would have been appalling, as will the homelives of other children in similar situations.

i guess in crazyplateladys scenario,her mother wouldnt have got her up,dressed and then taken her to the nursery.....or collected her again

that was a sad tale crazyplate!